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021 - Book XI Arthur is mortally wounded and the Saxons return · History of the Kings of Britain

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Speaker 1: Book eleven of History of the Kings of Britain by
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Speaker 1: Geoffrey of Monmouth, translated by Aaron Thompson and J. A. Giles.
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Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public do Main Chapter one,
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Speaker 1: Mordred makes a great slaughter of Arthur's men, but is
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Speaker 1: beaten and flees to Winchester. Of the matter now to
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Speaker 1: be treated of most noble consul, Geoffrey of Monmouth shall
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Speaker 1: be silent, but will nevertheless, though in a mean style,
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Speaker 1: briefly relate what he found in the British book above mentioned,
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Speaker 1: and heard from that most learned historian, Walter Archdeacon of Oxford,
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Speaker 1: concerning the wars which this renowned king upon his return
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Speaker 1: to Britain after this victory, waged against his nephew. As
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Speaker 1: soon therefore, as the report of this flagrant wickedness reached him,
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Speaker 1: he immediately desisted from his enterprise against Leo, King of
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Speaker 1: the Romans, and, having sent away Hurl, Duke of the Armoricans,
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Speaker 1: with the army of Gaul to restore peace in those parts,
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Speaker 1: returned back with speed to Britain, attended only by the
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Speaker 1: kings of the Islands and their armies. But the wicked traitor.
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Speaker 1: Mordred had said to Cheldric, the Saxon leader, into Germany,
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Speaker 1: there to raise all the forces he could find and
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Speaker 1: return with all speed, and in consideration of this service,
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Speaker 1: had promised him all that part of the island which
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Speaker 1: reaches from the Humber to Scotland, and whatever hengist and
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Speaker 1: horses had possessed of Kent in the time of Vortigen,
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Speaker 1: so that he, in obedience to his commands, had arrived
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Speaker 1: with eight hundred ships filled with Pagan soldiers, and had
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Speaker 1: entered into covenant to obey the traitor as his sovereign,
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Speaker 1: who had also drawn to his assistance the Scots, Picts, Irish,
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Speaker 1: and all others whom he knew to be enemies to
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Speaker 1: his uncle. His whole army, taking Pagans and Christians together,
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Speaker 1: amounted to eighty thousand men, with the help of whom
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Speaker 1: he met Arthur just after his landing at the port
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Speaker 1: of Rutupi, and joining battle with him, made a very
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Speaker 1: great slaughter of his men. For the same day fell orgusl,
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Speaker 1: King of Albania, and Wargan, the king's nephew, with innumerable others.
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Speaker 1: Orguessel was succeeded in his kingdom by Aventus, his brother
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Speaker 1: Urian's son, who afterwards performed many famous exploits in those wars.
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Speaker 1: After they had, at last, with much difficulty, got ashore,
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Speaker 1: they paid back the slaughter and put Mordred and his
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Speaker 1: army to flight. For by long practice in war, they
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Speaker 1: had learnt an excellent way of ordering their forces, which
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Speaker 1: was so managed that, while their foot were employed, either
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Speaker 1: in an assault or upon the defensive, the horse would
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Speaker 1: come in at full speed, obliquely break through the enemy's ranks,
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Speaker 1: and so force them to flee. Nevertheless, this perjured Usurper
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Speaker 1: got his forces together again, and the night following entered Winchester.
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Speaker 1: As soon as Queen Gueranhumara heard this, she immediately, despairing
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Speaker 1: of success, fled from York to the city of Legions,
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Speaker 1: where she resolved to lead a chaste life among the
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Speaker 1: nuns in the Church of Julius the Martyr, and enter
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Speaker 1: herself as one of their order. Chapter two, Mordred, after
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Speaker 1: being twice besieged and routed, is killed. Arthur, being wounded,
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Speaker 1: gives up the kingdom to Constantine. But Arthur, whose anger
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Speaker 1: was now much more inflamed upon the loss of so
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Speaker 1: many hundred of his fellow soldiers. After he had buried
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Speaker 1: his slain, went on the third day to the city,
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Speaker 1: and there besieged the traitor, who, notwithstanding was unwilling to
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Speaker 1: desist from his enterprise, but used all methods to encourage
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Speaker 1: his adherents, and, marching out with his troops, prepared to
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Speaker 1: fight his uncle. In the battle that followed hereupon, great
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Speaker 1: numbers lost their lives on both sides, but at last
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Speaker 1: Mordred's army suffered most, so that he was forced to
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Speaker 1: quit the field shamefully. From hence he made a precipitate flight, and,
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Speaker 1: without taking any care for the burial of his slain,
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Speaker 1: marched in haste towards Cornwall. Arthur, being inwardly grieved that
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Speaker 1: he should so often escape forthwith, pursued him into that
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Speaker 1: country as far as the River Cumbula, where the other
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Speaker 1: was expecting his coming, and Mordred, as he was the
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Speaker 1: boldest of men and always the quickest at making an attack,
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Speaker 1: immediately placed his troops in order, resolving either to conquer
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Speaker 1: or die rather than continue his flight any longer. He
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Speaker 1: had yet remaining with him sixty thousand men, out of
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Speaker 1: whom he composed three bodies, which contained each of them
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Speaker 1: six thousand, six hundred and sixty six men, but all
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Speaker 1: the rest he joined in one body, and having assigned
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Speaker 1: to each of the other parties their leaders, he took
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Speaker 1: the command of this upon himself. After he had made
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Speaker 1: this disposition of his forces, he endeavored to animate them,
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Speaker 1: and promised them the estate of their enemies if they
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Speaker 1: came off with victory. Arthur, on the other side, also
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Speaker 1: marshaled his army, which he divided into nine square companies
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Speaker 1: with the right and left wing, and having appointed to
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Speaker 1: each of them their commanders, exhorted them to make a
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Speaker 1: total rout of these robbers and perjured villains, who, being
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Speaker 1: brought over into the island from foreign countries at the
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Speaker 1: insistence of the arch traitor, were attempting to rob them
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Speaker 1: of all their hodors. He likewise told them that a
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Speaker 1: mixed army composed of barbarous people of so many different countries,
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Speaker 1: and who were all raw soldiers and inexperienced in war,
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Speaker 1: would never be able to stand against such brave veteran
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Speaker 1: troops as they were, provided they did their duty. After
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Speaker 1: this encouragement given by each general to his fellow soldiers,
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Speaker 1: the battle on a sudden began with great fury, wherein
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Speaker 1: it would be as well grievous as tedious to relate
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Speaker 1: the slaughter, the cruel havoc, and the excess of fury
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Speaker 1: that was to be seen on both sides. In this
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Speaker 1: manner they spent a good part of the day till
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Speaker 1: Arthur at last made a push with his company consisting
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Speaker 1: of six thousand, six hundred and sixty six men, against
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Speaker 1: that in which he knew Waldred was, and having opened
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Speaker 1: away with their swords, they pierced quite through it and
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Speaker 1: made a grievous slaughter. For in this assault fell the
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Speaker 1: wicked traitor himself, and many thousands with him. But notwithstanding
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Speaker 1: the loss of him, the rest did not flee, but,
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Speaker 1: running together from all parts of the field, maintained their
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Speaker 1: ground with an undaunted courage. The fights now grew more
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Speaker 1: furious than ever, and proved fatal to almost all the
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Speaker 1: commanders and their forces. For on Waldred's side fell Chaldric, Elasius,
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Speaker 1: Egbrict and Beuniqueness Saxons, Gilipatrick, Gillemore, Gistefel and Guillerius Irish.
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Speaker 1: Also the Scots and Pit with almost all their leaders.
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Speaker 1: On Arthur's side, Albricht, King of Norway, a schulius King
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Speaker 1: of Dasha, Cador Liminic casabalaone with many thousands of others,
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Speaker 1: as well Britons as foreigners that he had brought with him,
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Speaker 1: and even the renowned King Arthur himself was mortally wounded
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Speaker 1: and being carried thence to the Isle of Avalon to
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Speaker 1: be cured of his wounds, he gave up the crown
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Speaker 1: of Britain to his kinsman Constantine, the son of Cador,
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Speaker 1: Duke of Cornwall. In the five hundred and forty second
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Speaker 1: year of Our Lord's Incarnation, Chapter three, Constantine meets with
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Speaker 1: disturbances from the Saxons and Mordred's sons. Upon instant Time's
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Speaker 1: advancement to the throne, the Saxons, with the two sons
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Speaker 1: of Mordred, made insurrection against him, though without success, for
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Speaker 1: after many battles they fled, one to London, the other
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Speaker 1: to Winchester, and possessed themselves of those places. Then died.
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Speaker 1: Saint Daniel, the Pious Prelate of the Church of Bangor,
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Speaker 1: and theon Bishop of Gloucester, was elected Archbishop of London.
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Speaker 1: At the same time also died. At David, the Pious
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Speaker 1: Archbishop of Legions at the city of Menevia, in his
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Speaker 1: own abbey, which he loved above all the other monasteries
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Speaker 1: of his diocese, because Saint Patrick, who had prophetically foretold
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Speaker 1: his birth, was the founder of it. For during his
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Speaker 1: residence there among his friars, he was taken with a
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Speaker 1: sudden illness, of which he died, and, at the command
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Speaker 1: of Margo, king of the Venedotians, was buried in that church.
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Speaker 1: He was succeeded in the metropolitan see by Kinnochus, Bishop
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Speaker 1: of the Church of Lamperton, who was thus promoted to
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Speaker 1: a higher dignity. Chapter four. Constantine, having murdered the sons
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Speaker 1: of Mordred, is himself killed by Conan. But Constantine pursued
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Speaker 1: the Saxons and reduced them under his yoke. He also
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Speaker 1: took the two sons of Mordred, and one of them,
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Speaker 1: who had fled for sanctuary, to the Church of Amphibolus
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Speaker 1: in Winchester, he murdered before the altar. The other had
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Speaker 1: hidden himself in a convent of friars at London, but
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Speaker 1: at last was found out by him, brought before the altar,
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Speaker 1: and there put to death. Three years after this he
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Speaker 1: himself by the vengeance of God pursuing him, was killed
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Speaker 1: by Conan and buried close by Uther Pendragon, within the
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Speaker 1: structure of Stones, which was set up with wonderful art,
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Speaker 1: not far from Salisbury, and called in the English tongue
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Speaker 1: stan Heng. Chapter five, Aurelius Conan reigns after Constantine. After
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Speaker 1: him succeeded Aurelius Conan, his nephew, a youth of wonderful valor, who,
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Speaker 1: as he gained the monarchy of the whole island, would
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Speaker 1: have been worthy of the crown of it had he
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Speaker 1: not delighted in civil war. He raised disturbances against his uncle,
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Speaker 1: who ought to have reigned after Constantine, and cast him
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Speaker 1: into prison, and then killing his two sons, obtained the
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Speaker 1: king kingdom, but died in the second year of his reign.
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Speaker 1: Chapter six, War to Porius, being declared king, conquers the Saxons.
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Speaker 1: After Conan succeeded war to Porius, against whom the Saxons
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Speaker 1: made insurrection and brought over their countrymen from Germany in
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Speaker 1: a very great fleet. But he gave them battle and
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Speaker 1: came off with victory, so that he obtained the monarchy
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Speaker 1: of the whole kingdom and governed the people carefully and
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Speaker 1: peaceably for four years. Chapter seven, Malgo, King of Britain,
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Speaker 1: and a most graceful person, addicts himself to sodomy. After
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Speaker 1: him succeeded Malgo, one of the handsomest men in Britain,
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Speaker 1: a great scourge of tyrants, and a man of great strength,
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Speaker 1: extraordinary munificence, and a mattress valor, but addicted very much
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Speaker 1: to the detestable vice of sodomy, by which he made
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Speaker 1: himself abominable to God. He also possessed the whole island,
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Speaker 1: to which after a cruel war, he added the six
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Speaker 1: provincial islands Fiz, Ireland, Iceland, Gothland, the Yorkneys, Norway and Dasha.
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Speaker 1: Chapter eight, Britain in the flame of a civil war
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Speaker 1: and a king, Karatacus is miserably wasted by the Saxons
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Speaker 1: and Africans. After Margo succeeded, Caratacus, a lover of civil
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Speaker 1: war and hateful to God and to the Britons. The Saxons,
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Speaker 1: discovering his fickle disposition, went to Ireland for Gormund, king
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Speaker 1: of the Africans, who had arrived there with a very
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Speaker 1: great fleet and had subdued that country from thence, at
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Speaker 1: their traitorous instigation, he sailed over into Britain, which the
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Speaker 1: perfidious Saxons, in one part in another the Britain, by
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Speaker 1: their continual wars among themselves, were wholly laying waste. Entering
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Speaker 1: therefore into alliance with the Saxons, he made war upon
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Speaker 1: King Caratacus, and after several battles fought, drove him from
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Speaker 1: city to city, till at length he forced him to Cirencester,
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Speaker 1: and there besieged him. Hererizombard, the nephew of Lewis, King
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Speaker 1: of the Franks, came and made a league of amity
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Speaker 1: with him, and, out of respect to him, renounced the
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Speaker 1: Christian faith, on condition that he would assist him to
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Speaker 1: gain the Kingdom of Gaul from his uncle, by whom
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Speaker 1: he said he was forcibly and unjustly expelled out of it.
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Speaker 1: At last, after taking and burning the city, he had
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Speaker 1: another fight with Caratacus and made him flee beyond the
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Speaker 1: Severn into Wales. He then made an utter devastation of
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Speaker 1: the city, set fire to the adjacent cities, and continued
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Speaker 1: these outrages till he had almost burnt up the whole
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Speaker 1: surface of the island. From the one sea to the other,
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Speaker 1: so that the tillage was everywhere destroyed, and a general
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Speaker 1: destruction made of the husbandman and clergy with fire and sword.
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Speaker 1: This terrible calamity caused the rest to flee whithersoever they
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Speaker 1: had any hopes of safety. Chapter nine, the author upbraids
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Speaker 1: the Britons, Why foolish nation oppressed with the weight of
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Speaker 1: your abominable wickedness. Why did you, in your insatiable thirst
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Speaker 1: after civil wars, so weaken yourself by domestic confusions? That
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Speaker 1: whereas formerly you brought distant kingdoms under your yoke, now
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Speaker 1: like a good vineyard, degenerated and turned to bitterness, you
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Speaker 1: cannot defend your country, nor wives, nor children against your enemies.
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Speaker 1: Go on go on in your civil dissensions, little understanding
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Speaker 1: the saying in the Gospel, every kingdom divided against itself
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Speaker 1: shall be brought to desolation, and a house divided against
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Speaker 1: itself shall fall. Since then your kingdom was divided against itself,
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Speaker 1: since the rage of civil discord and the fumes of
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Speaker 1: envy have darkened your minds, since your pride would not
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Speaker 1: suffer you to pay obedience to one king. You see,
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Speaker 1: therefore your country made desolate by impious pagans, and your
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Speaker 1: houses falling one upon another, which shall be the cause
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Speaker 1: of lasting sorrow to your posterity. For the barbarous lionesses
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Speaker 1: shall see their whelps enjoying the towns, cities, and other
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Speaker 1: possessions of your children, from which they should be miserably expelled,
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Speaker 1: and hardly if ever recover their former flourishing stay. Eight
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Speaker 1: Chapter ten, Loegria is again inhabited by the Saxons. The Britons,
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Speaker 1: with their bishops, retire into Cornwall and Wales. But to
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Speaker 1: return to the history. When the inhuman tyrant, with many
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Speaker 1: thousands of his Africans, had made a devastation almost over
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Speaker 1: the whole island, he yielded up the greater part of it,
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Speaker 1: called Loegria, to the Saxons, whose villainy had been the
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Speaker 1: occasion of his arrival. Therefore, the remainder of the Britons
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Speaker 1: retired into the western part of the kingdom, that is
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Speaker 1: Cornwall and Wales, from whence they continually made frequent and
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Speaker 1: fierce irruptions upon the enemy. The three archbishops viz. The
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Speaker 1: Archbishop of Legions, Theon of London and Thadiosus of York.
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Speaker 1: When they beheld all the churches in their jurisdiction, lying
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Speaker 1: level with the ground, fled with all the clergy that
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Speaker 1: remained after so great a destruction to the coverts of
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Speaker 1: the woods in Wales, carrying with them the relics of
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Speaker 1: the saints, for fear the sacred bones of so many
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Speaker 1: holy men of old might be destroyed by the barbarians
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Speaker 1: if they should leave them in that imminent danger, and
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Speaker 1: themselves instantly suffer martyrdom. Many more went over in a
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Speaker 1: great fleet into our Morrican Britain, so that the whole
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Speaker 1: church of the two provinces Loegria and Northumberland had its
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Speaker 1: convents destroyed. But these things I shall relate elsewhere when
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Speaker 1: I translate the book concerning their banishment Chapter eleven. The
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Speaker 1: Britons lose their kingdom. For a long time after this,
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Speaker 1: the Britons were dispossessed of the crown of the Kingdom
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Speaker 1: and the monarchy of the island, and made no endeavors
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Speaker 1: to recover their ancient dignity. But even that part of
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Speaker 1: the country which yet remained to them, being subject not
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Speaker 1: to one king but three tyrants, was often wasted by
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Speaker 1: civil wars. But neither did the Saxons yet obtain the crown,
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Speaker 1: but were also subject to three kings who harassed, sometimes
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Speaker 1: one another, sometimes the Britons. Chapter twelve, Augustine, being sent
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Speaker 1: by Pope Gregory into Britain, preaches the Gospel to the Angles.
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Speaker 1: In the meantime, Orusin was sent by Pope Saint Gregory
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Speaker 1: into Britain to preach the Word of God to the Angles, who,
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Speaker 1: being blinded with pagan superstition, had entirely extinguished Christianity in
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Speaker 1: that part of the island which they possessed. But among
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Speaker 1: the Britons the Christian faith still flourished and never failed
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Speaker 1: among them, from the time of Pope Eleutherius, when it
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Speaker 1: was first planted here. But when Augustine came he found
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Speaker 1: in their province seven bishoprics and an archbishopric, all filled
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Speaker 1: with the most devout prelates, and a great number of abbeys,
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Speaker 1: by which the flock of Christ was still kept in
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Speaker 1: good order. Among the rest, there was in the city
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Speaker 1: of Bangor a most noble church, in which it is
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Speaker 1: reported that there was so great a number of monks, that,
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Speaker 1: when the monastery was divided into seven parts, having eached
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Speaker 1: their prize over them, not one of them had less
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Speaker 1: than three hundred monks, who all lived by the labor
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Speaker 1: of their own hands. The name of their abbot was Denute,
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Speaker 1: a man admirably skilled in the liberal arts, who, where
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Speaker 1: Augustine required the subjection of the British bishops, would have
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Speaker 1: persuaded them to undertake the work of the Gospel with him.
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Speaker 1: Among the Angles answered him with several arguments that they
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Speaker 1: owed no subjection to him. Neither would they preach to
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Speaker 1: their enemies, since they had their own archbishop, and because
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Speaker 1: the Saxon nation persisted in depriving them of their country.
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Speaker 1: For this reason, they esteemed them their mortal enemies, reckoned
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Speaker 1: their faith and religion as nothing, and would no more
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Speaker 1: communicate with the Angles than with dogs. Chapter thirteen Aidelfrid
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Speaker 1: kills a great number of the British monks, but is
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Speaker 1: at last routed by the Britons. Therefore, Heidelbert, King of Kent,
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Speaker 1: when he saw that the Briton's disdained subjection to Augustine
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Speaker 1: and despise his preaching, was highly provoked and stirred up Adelfrid,
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Speaker 1: King of the Northumbrians, and the other petty kings of
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Speaker 1: the Saxons to raise a great army and march to
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Speaker 1: the city of Bangor to destroy the Abtinute and the
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Speaker 1: rest of the clergy who held them in contempt at
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Speaker 1: his instigation. Therefore, they assembled a prodigious army, and in
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Speaker 1: their march to the province of the Britons, came to Legucester,
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Speaker 1: where Brucanale, consul of the city, was awaiting their coming.
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Speaker 1: To the same city were come innumerable monks and hermits
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Speaker 1: from several provinces of the Britons, but especially from the
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Speaker 1: city of Bangor, to pray for the safety of their people.
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Speaker 1: Whereupon Aidelfrid, king of the Northumbrians, collecting all his forces,
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Speaker 1: joined battle with Bruccanale, who, having a less army to
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Speaker 1: withstand him, at last quitted the city and fled, though
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Speaker 1: not without having made a great slaughter of the enemy.
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Speaker 1: But Adelfrid, when he had taken the city and understood
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Speaker 1: upon what occasion the munks were come thither, commanded his
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Speaker 1: men to turn their arms first against them, and so
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Speaker 1: two hundred of them were honored with the crown of
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Speaker 1: martyrdom and admitted into the Kingdom of Heaven that same day.
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Speaker 1: From thence this Saxon tyrant proceeded on his march to Bangor.
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Speaker 1: But upon the news of his outrageous madness, the leaders
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Speaker 1: of the Britons viz. Blederic, Duke of Cornwall, Margadad, King
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Speaker 1: of the Domitians, and Cadwan of the Venedotians, came from
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Speaker 1: all part to meet him, and, joining battle with him,
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Speaker 1: wounded him and forced him to flee, and killed of
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Speaker 1: his army to the number of ten thousand and sixty
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Speaker 1: six men. On the Briton side fell Blederic, Duke of Cornwall,
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Speaker 1: who was their commander in these wars end of Book eleven.